/ 7 July 2013

Saatchi to divorce Nigella Lawson for not publicly defending him

Saatchi To Divorce Nigella Lawson For Not Publicly Defending Him

Prominent art collector Charles Saatchi on Sunday said he is divorcing his celebrity chef wife Nigella Lawson because she did not publicly defend his reputation after images emerged of him grasping the throat of his wife in a posh London restaurant in early June.

Tabloid newspapers last month published photos of the incident, which Saatchi described as a "playful tiff".

The 70-year-old Saatchi was given a police "caution" after admitting assault.

He told Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper that he is divorcing Lawson because he has "clearly been a disappointment" to her and because he is disappointed she did not defend him after the incident.

Lawson's spokesperson declined to comment.

Meanwhile, on June 9 Saatchi admitted to assaulting Lawson and accepted a police caution after photos showed him grasping her throat.

Tabloid newspapers at the time published photos of the incident, which happened June 9 in a London restaurant.

'Playful tiff' during an intense debate
The Guardian reported on June 18 that Saatchi said he accepted a police caution for assaulting his wife, because he thought it was "better than the alternative, of this hanging over all of us for months".

Prominent art collector Saatchi had earlier characterised the incident between him and the celebrity chef as a "playful tiff" during an intense debate about the couple's children.

Lawson (53) is a well-known TV presenter and chef whose cookbooks are best-sellers in Britain and the United States.

The Daily Mirror said on June 17 that Saatchi accepted the official warning after a five-hour grilling over dramatic photographs published in its sister paper, the Sunday People, which showed him grasping Lawson's throat. The tabloid published photographs of what it said showed Saatchi taking a cab back from a London police station.

Under British law, a caution is a formal warning given to someone who admits the offence. It carries no penalty, but it can be used as evidence of bad character if a person is later prosecuted for a different crime.

No names mentioned
When asked about Saatchi, London's Metropolitan Police at the time said that a 70-year-old man had been cautioned for assault after voluntarily attending a police station following an investigation into the pictures published by the Sunday People.

The force did not mention Saatchi by name – authorities in Britain rarely identify suspects who haven't been charged.

Saatchi had earlier told the London Evening Standard newspaper that the photos made the altercation look worse than it was.

Saatchi, an Evening Standard columnist, said at the time that "the pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place".

"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasise my point," he was quoted as saying in June. "There was no grip, it was a playful tiff."

Saatchi also told the paper the couple "had made up by the time we were home".

"The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled," he said. – Sapa-Ap